Nelson Riddle, 64, the composer-conductor famed for his...

October 8, 1985

LOS ANGELES — Nelson Riddle, 64, the composer-conductor famed for his lush arrangements of songs for singers such as Judy Garland, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra, and for his ''Theme From Route 66,'' died Sunday.

Riddle, who most recently was the arranger-conductor of Linda Ronstadt's What's New and Lush Life albums of richly orchestrated standards, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of cardiac and kidney failure, a hospital spokesman said.

Riddle won an Oscar in 1975 for music adaptation for the score of the 1974 film The Great Gatsby, based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. He also won two Grammys, the first in 1958 for ''Cross-Country Suite,'' and the second for Ronstadt's What's New album.

His 1962 composition, ''Theme From Route 66,'' made it to No. 30 on Billboard's pop charts that year, and was one of the first television show themes to be recorded and commercially released.

Born June 1, 1921, in Hackensack, N.J., Riddle started playing the piano, but took up the trombone at 14. He played with many noted dance bands, including Jerry Wald, Charlie Spivak and Tommy Dorsey.

He was a staff arranger for NBC in Hollywood in the late 1940s and music director of Capitol Records during the 1950s, but first became prominent during the 1950s from his free-lance arranging-conducting on record sessions, especially for Sinatra and Cole.

Among the most famous works he arranged was Cole's ballad single ''Mona Lisa'' and Sinatra's 1958 album Only the Lonely.

He also undertook the musical background for successful television series such as The Untouchables and Route 66.

He composed the scores for movies such as St. Louis Blues (1958), Come Blow Your Horn (1962) and Paint Your Wagon (1969).